FERNLEY - Tyler Selden had two hits and three RBIs to ignite a 12-run first inning outburst that put Fernley High School on track to a 26-4 non-conference baseball victory at home against Yerington on Wednesday afternoon.
Selden finished the day hitting 4-for-5 with a double and six RBIs as the Vaqueros won their sixth straight game and improved to 17-6 overall on the season. It was another strong game for Fernley against a Lyon County foe in the past week, as the Vaqueros beat Dayton 22-3 back on April 12
Eleven different players reached the hit column for the Vaqueros, who banged out 20 hits in the five-inning contest.
The offensive began immediately as Aaron Keller reached on an error to lead off the first. Bryan Reeder was hit by a pitch and Selden singled up the middle to drive one run home. Garrett Hall and Al Polito followed with RBI singles and Selden came back later in the same inning to double two more runs home. The Vaqueros were aided by four walks and two hit batsmen in that big first inning.
Even with all that hit production, coach James Huckaby was actually more impressed with the number he saw in another column.
"We've been hitting real well lately and our defense is coming around pretty good, too," Huckaby said. "At the beginning of the year, we were looking at four errors a a game. In our last seven games over the last week and a half, we're averaging one error. We're not going to hit the ball like this every day, especially when the pitching starts to get better in the big games, but if we can continue to play defense and get great pitching like this, we'll be real competitive."
Reeder, Matt Lambeth, Levi Diaz and Selden combined to pitch four-hit ball for the Vaqueros. Lambeth blanked Yerington in the second and third innings to earn credit for the win.
Diaz has been particularly impressive in his last four appearances. He struck out seven in three innings against Incline, struck out 12 in five innings in a win against North Tahoe, and struck out nine in five innings to beat Battle Mountain.
Zach Roots hit 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs to supply an offensive highlight for Yerington (10-10) on Wednesday.
Fernley hosts Pershing County in another non-conference game today at 3 p.m. The Vaqueros are 5-1 and tied with Rite of Passage for first-place in the 3A Division I race (the two teams meet in a regular season-ending doubleheader on May 6 in Yerington).
The Yerington Lions resume their Division II schedule Saturday with a doubleheader against Pershing County in Lovelock.